Spring has arrived

Happy St George's Day to you all. I know spring has arrived because I spent a really pleasant day at the Harrogate Spring Flower Show yesterday. Crowds flocked to the annual Spring event. Not only did we have lovely spring sunshine but also the treat of a dazzling display of spring flowers and plants which really warmed up the heart and at last unlocked the shackles of a very, very long and cold winter. My picture shows a beautiful Primula vulgaris AGM from Slack Top Alpine Nursery. Just sublime!

Don't miss our report on the show which should go live on our website - www.recklessgardener.com - in the next few days.

If you are in the Kendal area of Cumbria on Sunday then go along to the National Trust's Sizergh Castle for their honey and bee event. It opens at 11am each day and runs to 4pm. Get a tast of honey, learn about honey bees and enjoy some lovely surroundings at the same time.

I hear on the grapevine that at the Asparagus Festival in the Vale of Evesham, which happens to start on St George's Day, a campaign is going to be launched for asparagus to become the official symbol of St George's Day. Interesting!

The Leeds Garden at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show promises much and I am really looking forward to it.

Visitors to the Civic Hall in Leeds are in for a treat as well because as part of the Chelsea Show promotion the City have put on an eye-cathing blaze of colour - filling the flower beds around the landmark building with striking Polyanthus Crescendo flowers and signs to help promote The HESCO Garden 2010.

We are nearing Compost Awareness Week, which runs from the 2nd to 8th May so check out our website for some really useful hints on composting. Don't forget you can also follow us on Twitter - just go onto www.recklessgardener.com and take a look at our interactive section.

Good Day sunshine

I am mildly cheered up by the sign of the sun today. I say 'mildly' because the weather seems to ve very variable, ie one thing in the morning and something else pm. But the calendar moves on, the daffodils have appeared, the tulips are struggling for glory and the first signs of life in the Astrantia and perennial geraniums tells me that I have not lost them over the harsh winter.

Congratulations to Gardening Direct for their support of garden charity Thrive. Gardening Direct have supplied a large quantity of bean seeds for Thrive's BeanFest 2010 competition. The seeds have now been distributed to groups of people Thrive works with including projects that work with disabled people and people affected by stroke or heart disease. If you work with disabled people or are disabled yourself and would like to enter the competition, call Thrive on 0118 988 5688, for your two free packets of bean seeds and comp. guidelines. The winner gets plants to the value of £200 from Gardening Direct.

My picture today is of Arnside Railway Viaduct - you can just see the tops of the mountains in the background still have slight snow on them although it is fast disappearing now.

there is now just a few weeks to go before everyone must dispose of their personal supply of sodium chlorate - the deadline set by the Pesticides Safety Directorate is 10th May 2010. Gardeners will now have to look around for a new solution to the control of tough weeks. Bayer Garden has a range of products that are helping fill this gap, one being Long Lasting Ground Clear, which is a systemic broad spectrum residual weedkiller, providing season long control of difficult weeds such as thistles and nettles on waste ground, around trees and shrubs.

Note: Long lasting Ground Clear contains glyphosate, ffufanacet, metosulam.
Always read the label and use pesticides safely.